It is already known from EP-A-0 539 588 and WO 2007/115644 to use substituted enaminocarbonyl compounds as crop protection agents for controlling insects and acarids. It is also known to use substituted enaminocarbonyl compounds together with other insecticides. Thus, for example, WO 2009/043443 describes active compound combinations comprising certain substituted enaminocarbonyl compounds and certain neonicotinoid insecticides, such as, for example, clothianidin or thiamethoxam.
It is also already known that the extracts of the seeds of the neem tree have insecticidal properties (cf. “Römpp Chemie Lexikon”, 9th edition, page 2954, Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart-New York, 1991). The activity of the neem tree extract is generally ascribed to the presence of azadirachtin. Azadirachtin belongs to the limonoids and is a secondary metabolite. Azadirachtin is a highly oxidized tetranortriterpenoid having enol ether, acetal, hemiacetal and epoxide functions. Azadirachtin has in particular ecdysone-like activity, i.e. it inhibits the larval development of various insects (Z. Naturforsch., part C, 42, 4 (1987)). Azadirachtin has the disadvantage that the onset of this activity of the active compound is delayed, and that, at low application rates, the efficacy is sometimes unsatisfactory.
In general, the activity of the known substituted enaminocarbonyl compounds and of azadirachtin is good. However, in particular at low application rates and in the case of certain pests, they do not always satisfy the requirements of agricultural and horticultural practice, and there is still a need for an economically efficient and ecologically safe pest control.
However, since the ecological and economical demands made on modern crop protection agents are increasing constantly, for example with respect to toxicity, selectivity, application rate, formation of residues and favourable manufacture, and there can furthermore be problems, for example, with resistances, there is a constant need to develop novel crop protection agents which, at least in some areas, have advantages over the known ones.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide further insecticides which, compared to known active compound combinations, have an improved activity and/or a broader activity spectrum and avoid the disadvantages mentioned above.